To ask if anyone has experience of British DC going to university in America?

[Pieinthesky1111]

DD is 18 and in her second year of college. She’s on for somewhere between ABB-A*AB. She has expressed interest in exploring international options as well. She’s got an offer from Sheffield so I guess my questions are:
Is it too late to apply for a start this September?

How would you go about applying, is there an American equivalent of UCAS?

How do you asses quality of these universities?

What are indicators a university would be equivalent to or better than Sheffield in terms of quality of teaching, prospects, academic rating etc.

What would the cost be like compared to UK unis?
What’s the typical experience like for British international students?

What is the system with student loans and repayments?

DD isn’t absolutely wedded to the idea but I think it’s interesting. I think she would prefer somewhere with a good party atmosphere and
preferably warm, maybe Florida (but doesn’t have to be).

Sorry, didn’t mean to enable voting.

Suggest she looks at Scotland, Wales, Ireland too

I suppose the key thing is how will she pay for it if she doesn’t get a UK student loan?

There will be others with more practical advice but it would cost an absolute fortune to study in the US unless she is able to secure some sort of scholarship, eg she's a exceptional football player

It is very, very expensive. International students often have to provide proof that they can fund four years of study before they even start.
There is no UCAS equivalent, and applications are made to as many individual colleges as you want (paying for each one). These are not standard applications, and each college will probably require the student to answer an essay type question as part of the application. Most students from UK will also have sat SATS, I think they are called, which are held at several centres throughout the year in the UK. I am guessing that your DD will be too late to sit these for admission in September, but I am not sure.
If she wants a party atmosphere, she should bear in mind that alcohol isn't legally allowed in the US until age 21 which may affect her decision.
Depending on what she wants to study, she could maybe look for a UK uni that facilitates a year out in the US? Would certainly be a lot cheaper, and maybe easier to arrange!
Also check out the Fulbright Commission website if you haven't already done so.

You also need to look at visas, presuming she doesn’t have a us passport.

also, factor in that she probably won’t be entitled to a student loan, will have the cost of flights to come home, likely need US medical insurance which is expensive.

she could consider going to Sheffield and then doing a year abroad in her second year. It is possible to do that to the US aswell as other countries and will be a lot cheaper as will be more of an exchange programme. I know people who did that at Sheffield.

It is super expensive. I did a year in the USA for the second year of my degree and had the best time. It wasn't part of my course - it was arranged through the university exchange office so he could get in touch with them?

My friend went to a British University but did a year in an American University as part of her course. Maybe look at that?

My sister did the same but did a year in Spain.

A friend of mine is just finishing 4yrs in a Texas university. She went on an athletics scholarship and used a company to deal with all the details.

You apply directly to the University and there's a charge for each application. She's also pay international student fees and need a visa. It's much more expensive for many things there, such as the books required for each class cost in the hundreds of $$ each. I used to buy Ds books used before each semester online at the Uni bookstore back in 2010 they cost me over $500 each time, some could be sold back, but not all.
Dd has also looked at going to US for Uni this sept, she has a US passport but would still pay international fees but would be eligible to apply for FAFSA loans in US, We still aren't doing it due to cost, so she'll look into a year there through the Uni she wants here in UK.

If she wanted 'abroad' but closer to home, lots of the Dutch universities have faculties / courses taught in English.

Not that great at supporting students, a lot of them don't even graduate. Better in England. Netherlands has a huge crisis with student accomodation.

If she is interested in studying in another country, an option is to look at a non-English speaking country where many courses are taught in English; she can learn the local language at the same time.

Is there a specific reason for wanting America?

DS went to university in Michigan. He got an athletic scholarship (football) - a full ride as they call it, which paid for his fees, insurance, accommodation on campus and food. His four years have still cost us an arm and a leg though as flights are expensive, accommodation was only covered on campus and he wanted to move out with friends in the second year (as most students do in the UK) so we had to cover that. Also bear in mind that if athletic performance falls for whatever reason or there is an injury, they will reduce or take away the scholarship.

Possible for British DC to do 2 years at a community college (very cheap tuition) and then transfer to whatever US uni is affiliated with that community college.

What would the cost be like compared to UK unis?

This is the only relevant thing, tbh. Can you afford it?

Dc has quite a few friends over there. All on athletic scholarships though.

dc has had several contacts for recruitment, so from our point of view beyond sorting NCAA eligibility we don’t do much, the coaches sort it all.

Some Ivy leagues are needs blind, so depending on your earnings you can go there for free/low cost. I think the one dc was asked to consider was fully funded if you earned under 50k, then a sliding scale. It makes it very affordable if you’re low income.

however for Ivy League or indeed any academic scholarship chances are grades will be AAA minimum. They were willing to overlook DC’s B because they wanted them on the athletics team, but no lower.

I looked into this years ago for myself (I was already living in the US but on a student visa) and it was just prohibitively expensive.

Absolutely astronomical if not on a scholarship. Plenty of British universities offer semesters abroad though, or potentially a year depending on the programme, so that may be worth looking into if costs are prohibitive.

Unless money is no object then finding a UK course that offers a year abroad is probably a more realistic option.

My friend's daughter went to University in New York. It cost nearly £200,000. There was a very small bursary from the University perhaps £10,000 but the rest was financed by remortgaging. It was an absolute killer for my friend, because obviously she had to pay for accommodation in NY and flights home several times a year.

It is very expensive to study in the States, and she will likely end up with a massive debt. This is what you do if you plan to study hard and aim for a well-paid and demanding job.
She wants a place with a party atmosphere, and somewhere warm like Florida. This is what you do on holiday.
I'll let you fill in the rest of my thoughts.

Insanely expensive, unless she can get a scholarship. I'm a dual national and grew up in the states but went to high school in the UK and then uni in the UK- it would have been extortionate for me to go back to uni in the states. Even going to university in another state is crazy expensive, nevermind from overseas. a year abroad is a great idea - my friend did it and went to New York in the third year and actually only paid half fees to her UK uni and was still able to get her normal loan etc. Then returned and completed her final year here. Some courses do it as standard, some universities you can apply regardless of the course you are doing.

There is a reason why many American parents pay into a college fund when their children are newborns…..

It’s North of £50k a year just for tuition and bear in mind there are thousands of unis - state and private, religious and not. They are not all made equally.

Applications are done earlier in the year so that by the time they take their A levels they will know if they have a place. Students might find it difficult to keep motivated in those circs although for OP daughter she would have to apply in a gap year.